Siamese, I believe you have a lot of valid points, however, personally I still found the show enjoyable.
Many characters were definitely underdeveloped, not necessarily stemming from Wedekind's original.
Melchior: Wedekind was incredibly interested in illustrating that "love" did not exist, that there was only lust, pushed forward by the animal-like sexual desires of both the male and female. Melchior reads a great deal, given a great deal of leeway because of liberal parents (Wedekind was the same way), however in the original play, Melchior's animal instinct overcomes him and causes him to beat Wendla, and then rape her. The main flaw in Melchior's character, in the original, is that although he reads a great deal, and seems to have a basic understanding of human character, he is nonetheless subject to certain things merely because of his age.
In the musical, I believe Mayer and Sater tried to hard to make Melchior this great protagonist being, who is smart, attractive, and caring. As a result, the plays actions become less cohesive, and Melchior becomes a character that is very hard to relate to.
Wedekind made Moritz and Melchior a combination of himself, and his "arch-enemy" the naturalistic playwright Gerhart Hauptmann. However, it is doubtful that any of Wedekind's lengthy character descriptions, and contrasts between himself and Hauptmann were researched during development.
Moritz: John Gallagher puts on a fantastic show. His stage presence is undeniable, his delivery frantic, and his voice reminiscent of Wedekind from the eyes of Brecht, "[Wedekind] sang his songs to guitar accompinament in a brittle voice, slightly monotonous and quite untrained. No singer gave me such a shock such a thrill. It was the man's intense aliveness, the energy which allowed him to defy sn*ing ridicule and proclaim his brazen hymn to humanity, that also gave him this personal magic."
Gallagher illustrates the beauty of this rock-musical concept...however almost all of the others fall short. If you read a couple of Wedekind biographies, it is easy to see that Wedekind was just as much a "rock-star" as Duncan Sheik, which is why I think this idea works. However, the lyrical execution, and lack of strong character development, both on the part of the writing team and actors, causes the product to fall a bit flat. No doubt though, Johnny Gallagher is a thrill to watch. Yet, due to the placement of him in the "Those You've Known" scene, his character is slightly weakened. In the original play, Moritz attempts to coerce Melchior into joining him in the grave, almost feeling as if it is part of his master plan...show them all through suicide, and manipulate these naive kids (Moritz and Wendla) into having the same understandings that you do. By having Moritz and Wendla come out of the stage, in some hokie Les Mis type action, simply indicates that "hey, it's about time that we wrap up this show," with "Purple Summer" being the "HEY WE STILL WANT A STANDING OVATION, AND MOST PEOPLE WON'T CLAP LOUDLY IF THEY'RE VERY UPSET" number.
anywhom, on to the next character.
Ilse: Being a douchebag, I asked Lauren Pritchard at this Spring-Awakening talk back "Have you drawn any parallels to the character of Lulu, from Wedekind's Erdgeist and Pandora's Box, with your character?" She replied "No, but maybe I should look into it." The sad thing is, that Ilse is Wedekind's model of this unrestrained, sexual, free, nomadic, female, that he uses over and over in his stories to illustrate that females have just as much sexual desire as males. Although Ilse's presence in Spring Awakening is not as grand as the presence of Lulu in the two plays, or even Klara the central character in "Musik," (oddly advised by a character named Else). You can argue that Ilse is slightly underdeveloped, and not really enthralling because most of her time is spent singing "like a rock-star in their bedroom," but the fact is that there are so many resources out there that time on stage should not hinder your ability to develop a strong character. Think of your first theatre teacher that said "Even the Onion in the vegetable patch can impact the audience to a great degree."
Wendla: Wedekind wrote her as this naive girl, who doubted that anyone cared for her, even her parents. She longed for love, while Melchior had the understanding that "there is no such thing as love," making Wendla the perfect target for illustrating his ideology. She asks him to beat her, thinking that may indicate love, and then of course Melchior's lustful desires control him, and push him to rape Wendla. Wedekind plays on the idea of LOVE throughout the play, however he, like Melchior, did not believe such a thing existed. This may be in turn why the Hanschen/Ernst scene is so comical, because of the same interplay between one who is just motivated by lust, and the other who feels as if love truly exists.
Martha: In reality, she should be a really ****ed up character. Yet she is so composed in the musical, that you doubt anything is really wrong with her. You can make the argument that "she is trying to hide her feelings," but still she would show signs of being overly restrained. "Dark I Know Well" is a fantastic song though.
Thea: I guess she looks like she's 12.
Hanschen: Johnny B. Wright clearly put a great deal of thought into this character, and his effort pays off a great deal. However, I was a little confused with his vocal delivery during ensemble numbers. This, I assume, indicates the discontinuity between the script and music that Siamese speaks of as Hanschen has a few different vocal styles, mainly the "Bitch of Living," "Word of Your Body (Reprise)" style, and the "Totally F*CKed," "My Junk" style. This is not really on the actor, as it is evident that some songs act as "internal monologues" while others ...eh, don't really do it.
Otto, Georg, and Ernst: These actors are fantastic, and they do an amazing job with the material. However, I wish that there was a greater amount of material that they both could work with in the show, especially Otto. I feel as if, Sater and Mayer drew the line somewhere and said "the more we play out these various vignettes about abuse, homosexuality, gypsy-love, and masturbation, the further away we may push the audience." So, Otto's story is sort of set aside.
To sort of bring this mess together, I enjoyed "Spring Awakening" thoroughly...though I doubt anyone really cares. The problems in the show seem to lie in poor lyricism, rough restructuring from Wedekind's original, underdeveloped characters, and the lack of cohesiveness between the main plot and the sub-plots, as well as the music and script at points. That's all for now.
Peace.
edited to add: Steven Spinella is weak, and overdoes almost every male character. The worst comes in the hands of Moritz's father, weeping uncontrollably over his grave...instead of the scorn, and disdain shown for his dead son in the original "this boy was no son of mine." Personally, I think it would have worked better.
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Siamese, I definitely see the Thom Yorke reference. Duncan Sheik during rehearsals told the actors to "sing like thom yorke" and a bunch of others...Gallagher has said he was influenced vocally by Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day. However, I felt at times they should have been played Talking Heads instead of Radiohead...b/c David Byrne can easily be seen as an influence in some of the music.
Updated On: 2/20/07 at 11:21 AM
I saw this show early in Broadway previews, and went in really hoping that I would like it but not knowing that much about it. I was entertained for an evening, thought that it was an okay show with a good score, but felt absolutely zero emotional involvement, mainly due to the inorganic melodrama and transitions or lyrics that completely pulled me out of the story. Not a single character is suitably developed, save perhaps for Moritz (but even then, I'm sure it's just that he seems at least a little more real than the others rather than that the character is fully-formed), and I didn't feel anything for their misfortunes. The girls, in particular, were insufferable. I didn't hate the show, and certainly didn't have the negative response that you had, but it felt pretty throwaway as far as theatrical experiences go. 
